British college employee accused of Chicago murder agrees to transfer

A wanted poster distributed by the Chicago Police Department shows suspects Wyndham Lathem, 42, an associate professor of microbiology and immunology, and Andrew Warren, 56, a financial employee at Britain's Oxford University, in this image released in Chicago, Illinois, U.S. on August 3, 2017. Courtesy Chicago Police Department/Handout via REUTERS

By Alissa Greenberg

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - An employee of Britain's Oxford University accused of stabbing to death a Chicago-area man with a second suspect agreed on Friday to be transferred to Illinois from California to face a murder charge.

The weeklong search for Andrew Warren and Northwestern University professor Wyndham Lathem drew international headlines. The pair, who police say were seen on surveillance video leaving the victim's apartment building, surrendered separately last week.

The 56-year-old Warren, bearded and using a listening device, said little during a brief hearing at Superior Court in San Francisco other than to say that he had waived his right to fight extradition.

Chicago authorities have described the killing of Trenton Cornell-Duranleau, 26, as domestic in nature, without offering a motive.

He was found on July 27 in Lathem's Chicago apartment along with a knife with a broken blade, and had been stabbed more than 40 times in his upper body, said Anthony Guglielmi, a Chicago police spokesman.

Warren's lawyer, public defender Ariel Boyce-Smith, said outside the courtroom that his agreement to be transferred was not an admission of guilt.

"I want to remind everyone that he is presumed innocent," she told reporters.

Judge Edward Torpoco set a status hearing for Sept. 8.

Lathem agreed on Monday to be extradited to Chicago.

Police have said Warren, a senior treasury assistant at Oxford's Somerville College, arrived in the United States one or two days before the slaying. He surrendered to police in San Francisco and Lathem turned himself in to authorities in nearby Oakland.

Northwestern has fired Lathem from his post as an associate professor of microbiology and immunology.

Before turning himself in, Lathem made a video in which he apologized for his involvement in the slaying, and he may have made a donation to a library in the victim's name, police said. His attorney said he likely would be moved in a week or two.